Yay! I now have up my Ebay account. People, please see what I have and I hope some of you will be willing to buy them. My account name is the same as my penname: Kitty Felone.
I must say this chapter is BY FAR the BEST chapter in ALL of three of the Duo's Child fics. This explains things that I never even EXPECTED to happen back in Duo's Child one! It explains her personality during Duo's Child 2--which was within the war--and even a little before that, when her life was still a happy one. I DO remember trying to tell the readers of DC1 to look closely at the chapter of Relena's Training, where she expressed her hatred to the Govnerment and explains how she hacked into Heero's laptop, but I highly doubt many of you listened to that. It shows it in here. And if you still haven't read that chapter, you must! It's Duo's Child--Relena's Training. Good chapter, explainsa LOT about Uno (if not this chapter in THIS fic) and if you have time, watch Endless Waltz... though I highly doubt you'll understand that movie without seeing the 49 episodes of Gundam Wing.
I have to say Gundam Wing (and all Gundam series, that is--EXCLUDING GUNDAM SEED WHICH IS NOTHING BUT A STUPID REMAKE OF GUNDAM WING!) is the BEST anime/cartoon dealing with the Government you will EVER see. It explains SO much about politics and war you have NO idea.
Okay well... I hope you all have fun. As I said, this is one of the best chapters I have ever written about Uno Maxwell.
- Chapter Twelve -
Theresa entered the massive Victorian Library and glanced around for her hostess. Dropping her belongings onto the floor, Theresa glanced around the outer rims of the main living quarters and frowned. Where would she be if she were Uno, she thought to herself? Finally, as if the thought occurred too late, she arched her back, tilted her head backwards, and found her best friend sitting in the tower, high above the center of all quarters of the library, directly on top of the living room. The tower was about five stories up and protected by nothing except for glass walls and ceilings—serving as windows—and small enough to sit a tiny couch and a silk plant; the only way to reach the tower would be by countless marble steps.
Theresa smiled when she spotted her best friend sitting high above her with a book in her hands.
"Hey Uno!" Theresa shouted out.
"Nanidesu?" Uno replied softly, more intact into her reading.
Theresa frowned. "Come down here you big butthead!"
"Nani?"
"Please?"
"Nani?"
Theresa fumed. "Please!" She screamed out.
"Nanidesu?" Uno replied softly again, as if it were no big importance.
Theresa grumbled and headed towards the staircase. For being seven-years-old it was a pain in the butt to be on a lower level than her best friend, who was only six and learning several languages at once. Theresa was still trying to learn Japanese and here Uno is, speaking it as if she were born with the knowledge.
And Theresa was an honor student whereas Uno was just a challengeable one!
When she finally reached the top step and landed in the tower, the windows gazing out over the vast trees and forest around them and the rest of the roof of the mansion—including the helipad for the Medical and Technology Wing on the other side of the building—Uno glanced up from her book with a big grin on her face.
"Konnichiwa!" Uno expressed with glee. Theresa only stared at her nonchalantly, showing her current feelings. Uno frowned and cocked her head to the side.
"What's the matter?" She asked her unhappy friend, apparently not realizing that she had teased her friend over the line, again.
Theresa groaned and collapsed onto the top step, putting her back to Uno. She sighed and rested her chin on her hands which were propped up by her knees. With a roll of her eyes, she mumbled out, "What are you reading now?"
Uno glanced back down at the page she was on. "Latin," she replied casually.
Theresa frowned. "Latin?" She turned around and crawled up to the edge of the couch to peer over the cover. "What's that?"
"A dead language," Uno replied as she scanned the next few entries of her new vocabulary.
"Then why are you learning it?" Theresa stared at her.
Uno shrugged her shoulders. "Wufei doesn't have time to teach me Chinese. I know Japanese because Heero made me learn it so I can stop asking what he says beneath his breath whenever he has a fight with Duo. I taught myself a little of Arabic so I can understand what Quatre says beneath his breath," Uno paused and turned to grin at Theresa. "Quatre's a bad boy."
Theresa gawked at her, learning all the more how smart her friend was becoming in less than a year's span. "Uno," she murmured out. Uno shrugged her shoulders and returned to the book at hand. "You're so smart. I hate you now! I don't know that much!"
Theresa fumed and put her back to her friend once again, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. She stared down at the floor where her things still sat in the middle of the living quarters, five stories below. Uno frowned up from the book and glanced at Theresa's back.
Suddenly, with a thought coming into her mind, she smirked. "Obviously not if your sitting on a flight of stairs that go up four levels with your back to me."
Theresa opened her mouth to say something and shut it, feeling all the more stupid with each passing breath she took.
"Shaddup," she grumbled out.
She felt a presence above her, waking her from the slumber that thankfully let her rest. But there was something above her, waving in her face. Uno could feel it without opening her eyes, sense it without blowing air at it and waiting until it repelled against the figure. She allowed herself to wake without giving off a hint to her awareness, a task she had to teach herself incase the enemy broke in while she slept.
"What are you doing?" Somebody was whispering and even though it was soft enough to be missed or ignored, Uno caught it without ease.
"She's a witch." Yep. That voice was definitely Marcella without a doubt. "She's got a spell book and what better place to hide it than where she sleeps?"
"But what if we're caught?"
"Will you be quiet?" Marcella snapped. Uno felt her hand reaching over and knowing what would happen if she did what she was thinking of doing, she did it anyways, despite the consequences.
She whipped out and latched onto La Marcella's wrist with a death-like grip, her fingers clenching and her short nails digging into the silky-smooth flesh. Marcella shrieked.
Loud.
All the girls in the dorm snapped away and found her standing over Uno's bed. She tried to pry her arm away but found it was pointless to try as she couldn't even managed to wiggled in Uno's powerful grasp. Uno's eyes opened suddenly, frighteningly, and she stared up directly into Marcella's horrified gaze.
"If you insist upon waking up the entire country then do continue screaming," Uno muttered out. "But do it with the clear conscious that it is your own doing and not mine." Marcella struggled against the bondage grip until finally Uno opened her fingers and released the hold she had on the prima ballerina. Marcella stumbled back a few feet and nearly fell backwards.
Uno whipped her legs around until she sat on the side of the bed. She stared Marcella in the eyes, slowly narrowing her own until she was sending a current of negative energy through a fatal death glare. From the corners of her eyes she saw Charline sit up and watch with her own expression of shock.
"Y-you witch!" Marcella snapped. "You could have given me a heart attack you frightened me so badly!"
Madam Giry raced into the room and gazed around at all the wide-awake girls sitting up in their beds, clutching the sheets up to their necks. She turned to Uno and Marcella with a frown.
"What is the matter here?" She barked. "What was the reason for the scream?"
Marcella shot an accusing finger in Uno's direction. "She tried to kill us!" Her friend added in a soft 'yeah' off from the side. "She grabbed my arm and gripped me, like she was trying to break it!"
Uno groaned and hung her head. Madam Giry turned to glance at Uno with a frown. Uno ignored all the faces pointing at her and stood up from the bed, not caring about straightening up the sheets. She turned to the ballet mistress and saw the upset look on the woman's face.
"Forgive me," Uno bowed her head. "But when whispering wakes me from my sleep and I sense a presence lurking above me I tend to react rather quickly. She shrieked because she did not expect me to lash out defensively." Uno returned stern look Madam Giry gave her.
"Uno I—"
"Don't worry," Uno cut in. Turning away from the woman she headed towards the staircase that exited the from the room. "I'll see you in the morning." Madam Giry turned and watched as Uno left the room.
Uno took a deep breath and as she let it out it turned into a growl. "Kuso!" She snarled out. "Abazureon'na sore! Yariman no baka sore!"
Uno balled her fists by her sides as she made her way around the dark hallways of the Opera Populaire. It was high night—or rather, early morning—and normally she would continue to sleep for another few hours when she'd wake and begin her daily morning routines, but at the moment she was extremely stressed out. She hadn't a clue as to where she was going and at the moment she didn't care.
She paused after stepping through the second set of doors and found herself backstage. With a sigh, Uno hung her head and headed towards the center. There was a dim light off to the side and it gave a small ability to see where she was going, but it's not as if she really needed it.
She wrapped her arms around her body and shut her eyes. The thin black gown she wore held little warmth against her body and unless she wanted to return to the dorms and find Marcella and everyone else staring at her, wondering if she had gone off to a secluded hiding place to cast spells on everyone while she was away she had to make due with what she had.
"Watashi ga attara hairitai," (Translation from Japanese: I want to crawl into a hole and die,) She murmured beneath her breath. Uno felt as if the whole world were caving in on her with every breath she took and if she didn't watch her back every second, she'd be crushed with a full impact. She had Madam Giry warning her every second about slipping and letting her cover get blown. The opera ghost—or as Christine referred to him, the phantom—kept sending her notes, warning that she watch her tongue and heed his threats. And La Marcella, with every move Uno made, was watching and waiting for some mysterious witchy business to happen so she could catch Uno in some satanic act.
Just wait until my birthday hits, she mused silently. That will sign away my soul despite my backgrounds if Marcella keeps insisting I'm a witch.
Uno stopped at the edge of the stage and sighed. She opened her eyes and stared down into the pit where the some musicians have apparently left their sheet music. There was movement towards her right where the small light came from and turning her face she found one of the stage members who she had saw earlier. She frowned and saw, by the number of liquor bottles scattered around their bodies, that they were still drunk.
But appeared passed out.
Taking a step back from the ledge Uno proceeded to leave the stage incase of waking the aggressive crew members when her back bumped into something solid, something that wasn't there earlier. She frowned and craned her neck to see who it was and found another member of the stage crew. Spinning around to fully face him now, Uno saw his cheeks were flushed with red and his eyes were glazed over.
"Hey you're that girl who stopped us from having a bit of fun earlier," he slurred out. Uno narrowed her eyes and took a step back. "You caused my men a great deal."
"Don't even think about it," she growled, bringing a fist into the air to express the nature of her warnings. She felt the presence of another body behind her but before she could turn around a pair of hands grasped her shoulders firmly.
"You took away our fun," said the man behind her, his breath laden with whisky. Uno wrinkled her nose and glared up at the guy before her, both of her fists balling by her sides.
"Don't come closer," she seethed through clenched teeth, "or I'll have to hurt you."
The man smirked. "Such strong words coming from a rangy ballet rat," he spat out.
"Don't forget," Uno retorted through a smirk. "I'm a rat and rats bite hard."
She shot out her foot and brought it directly into the man's erecting bulge between his thighs. He screamed and doubled over to grip himself, amazed at the girl's extreme strength for only being barefoot. Uno spun around and slammed her curled fist into the other man's gut, sending him to stumble backwards. She leaped into the air and delivered her foot into his neck at a fierce speed. Her heel connected with his Adams apple and pressed; the vibrations of her kick traveled up through her leg and she felt the audible crack of his neck rather than heard it. He stumbled back a few feet, guttering and choking on his broken neck, then suddenly died. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he lost balance, causing his body to fall backwards, off the edge of the stage, and into the pit.
Uno cringed against the loud sounds of the music stands as they snapped and broke against the man's weight. She turned back around and saw the man she had kicked stumbling away from her, his arm up in the air.
"You—why did you do that?" He barked out. Uno's brows knitted together as she stalked up towards him.
"Don't ever assume I'm as weak as everyone else!" She snapped. The man continued to back away from her but Uno didn't let him go and she charged, tackling him to the ground.
"People like you don't deserve to remain breathing," she growled as she straddled his chest.
Several hard blows were impacted upon his face and caused his mouth to bleed and his nose to break; however, Uno didn't stop just after a few punches. With every hit she through at him she grew angrier and angrier, making her punches get worse and worse. By the time Uno regained her control and composed herself to finally stop, the man beneath her was practically covered in blood, his nose broke to the side, his skull fractured in over twelve different locations, and his eyes swollen shut.
She didn't need a coroner to know he was dead.
"Kuso!" She seethed out.
Uno leaped up to her feet and backed away a few steps, stunned at what had just happened. She had just killed a man who only tried to touch her and nothing else. Men these days didn't kill a woman after they raped her; they merely let her live and denied everything or dropped a few coins by their spent bodies, as if they were nothing better than whores.
"What did I do?" She murmured out, stilled stunned to silence. "It's as if Zero took over me again."
But she knew that was impossible; that computer system has yet to even exist! How could a computer system, not yet created, manage to take over her mind when she wasn't even connected to its machine? Let alone how could she have not noticed the change until after it had happened?
Memories of her childhood when she hacked into Heero's laptop came back, reminding her the first time she had seen the Zero system and countered its defensive systems. Could it have become one with her? Could the system have downloaded itself into her brain? Considering she was only six-years-old when she hacked into his machine and bypassed the binary systems and the other computer locks Zero had thought she was capable of handling its waves on an even higher frequency than system control.
As in, mind control.
"Holy Hell," she murmured, shock slowly taking over her. "I've been possessed by Zero."
Uno glanced back at the body lying in the pit and the trail of blood leading away from the man's back, indicating where the destroyed music stand stabbed him, and then returned to the corpse lying on the stage. It was official, Uno decided. Wherever she was there was bound to be causalities.
Only in this world, away from equal rights for men and women, Uno wouldn't have a way to get out of this mess. They would assume that since she has been away from the dormitories that she was around in the time of the accident. And after Marcella added in the two-cent worth of her fright upon Uno's death-like grip, Uno's name-calling would get worse.
"Not possible," Uno murmured. "It's not possible."
Oh but it is, replied a voice in her head. The voice sounded much like her own but it wasn't her. It was her voice but the tone was much darker and more sinister. It reminded her of the night she opened her bedroom door upon hearing gunshots and broke the soldier's neck with an ordinary high kick; only that dumbass shouldn't have been standing in her doorway, staring at her in shock. That voice reminded her of the time when she shot the poor woman, Tori Spactic, in the park around the children because if she hadn't then the company would have done it for her; Uno looked at it as if she had saved the woman from a much greater fate.
And by God that voice had reminded her of when Duo had died in her hands and how, after glancing around and seeing every other member of her family slain before her very eyes, she realized she was fighting the war for other people other than herself.
And then all went black and she woke up here, in Madam Giry's possession. She remembered what had happened, on how she ended the war, but she wasn't in control of the situation. She wasn't able to stop herself, to stop the madness as she killed the civilians along with the soldiers who tried to stop her. It was as if she were watching the scene take place through somebody else's eyes, unable to do anything.
"No," she breathed out as she took several steps back from the scene before her while her eyes slowly glazed over. The man's bloodied head became a soldier, like so many before, and in place of the dark stage that surrounded her she was in a forest surrounded by tall, dark trees looming over her. She had chased down four hunters in the forest and one of them she had blown his face away as if she were hunting for deer.
Hey, she was dressed like a redneck hunter, after all.
"It can't be."
Why deny it, the voice shot back, when you know it's true? Just shut up and admit that you killed the two men, return to the dorms, and finish getting rest. If they ask, just tell them you passed by but weren't around. Only an idiot would assume to believe that bullshit and that's what you're surrounded by, idiots and nothing more.
That voice was definitely hers only it was darker. It was more sinister then she even assumed her voice could go.
"You're not real," she whispered. "You can't be." Uno backed into a wall, the two dead bodies still clear in her line of vision. She swallowed hard, her mouth gaping open at the realization that she had been possessed in the time during the war.
Just shut the fuck up already, it barked back. Without me you wouldn't have even survived that war. Yeah, so you tapped into all three mind controlling systems to help you fight when you piloted that mobile suite but did you really think you changed dramatically in over four measly months?
"You're a mind-controlling system created by scientists," Uno murmured back. She tore her sights away from the two dead bodies and stared at the floor by her feet. She was so much in a state of shock that Madam Giry, the managers, or even La Marcella could be standing in the audience and she wouldn't even know.
Look at the bodies and tell me if this 'mind controlling system' can kill on its own, it countered. Despite what Uno wanted to do, she turned and glanced back at the two corpses she had helped send to Hell. Now tell me if a computer system could have done all that without a host.
"Damate," (Translation from Japanese: Shut up,) Uno whispered.
Tell me! It returned.
"Damate!" Uno screamed out, her eyes clenching and her fists balling.
If not for me you wouldn't have learnt all sixteen different languages in only a matter of five years! If not for me you wouldn't have learnt several martial art techniques in only a few years! If not for me then you wouldn't have managed to be as brave and smart as you are! That voice explained. Uno collapsed onto the floor on her weak knees and wrapped her arms around her body. She felt as if the weight of the world were collapsing on top of her. Her body shook violently, wracked with torture from all kinds.
"Please," Uno whispered, her voice barely audible. "Please just go away."
Admit what you've become. You asked for strength I pushed you to the limits. You cried for life I kept you alive. You screamed for power I told you what had to be done. You wanted to follow in the footsteps of the life you were destined to lead and you came to me with open arms. All I did was hand myself to you in a wrapped box; you unwrapped me and unleashed the fury within. You opened Pandora's Box; you and no one else.
"Oh my God," she breathed out through clenched teeth. "What have I done?"
She knew when she was little and hacked into his machine that she had broken a rule by going behind his back and pried into information that she shouldn't have been looking for. She just didn't know how badly that rule's consequences would have. It turned out when she thought she countered the Zero system's computer lock, it, in turn, countered her. When she thought she had bypassed it, it had merely allowed her entry so long as she downloaded its software into her mind, through her eyes.
"I really am Duo's little girl," Uno whispered. Despite the smirk that came onto her lips she found the subject was serious. "I play with fire and I get burned from it."
And here you thought you were just born amazing and gifted, that voice returned. No, not true. I helped you become what you are. Without me, you may have been an honor student in school but you wouldn't have managed to push all of your past into the history to keep moving on. It would have eaten you away so badly that when you were losing blood your body would shut down, making it impossible for Justin to keep you alive as long as he did. When you're asleep you don't run your body; I had to make sure you stayed alive. I had to keep you strong. All you did was make a mess of things.
Uno swallowed hard as the lecture continued on. So admit that you live off of me and stand back up. Take a look at the bodies, blow it off as if it were just another mission in this war you call life, and walk away. You did it with Madam Giry when you first woke up here in this magnificent shit-hole, you did it to Marcella when she first insisted you were a witch, and you did it after the opera when Christine cried her eyes out to you. You don't care about anyone but yourself and your missions, thanks to me. So just admit defeat, blow this off, and continue looking for a way back home and stop dwelling about it!
Uno sniffled, sensing her eyes becoming moist. Biting back the sense of crying, she gathered herself together and stood back up. She wasn't sure what came over her—if it really was the Zero mode inside her mind—but she glanced at the bodies and ignored them.
Much better, the voice returned. Now leave and if anybody asks, just use the same Governmental speech I taught you when you were younger, the same tone you used at the Government meeting, and even when you first arrived here in Paris, and tell them some made up lie. They'll believe you because you will know more than them and make them look like fools.
Uno nodded her head to the order in her mind and turned away from the two bodies. The stage remained lit and as she exited the back door, she finally gathered herself together, fully and complete. The door clicked behind her and she raised her chin, a grin coming onto her face.
You're absolutely correct, she said mentally to the voice that had suddenly vanished as soon as she returned to her previous state-of-mind. They wouldn't do an autopsy and find out the cause of death before he fell. They'd see his stabbed back and assume he fell onto the stand out of sheer stupidity. They'll assume he punched the other guy to death then realized what he did wrong, stumble backwards out of fear, and fall to his own demise.
Uno took a deep breath and pushed off the door. She had a long day ahead of her and she couldn't waste a minute preparing for it.
-
Erik heard the loud shriek when he was exiting the rooftop and entering the dark halls. It sounded like the screams he heard when he was a child and his face was used as a side show; it reminded him of his childhood. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head to the side, cocking an ear to listen to the voice. It was high, making it a woman's, and it wasn't far off, which made it a ballerina from the dormitories nearby.
But which dorm to know which ballerina?
He took a few more feet and stopped. There was a rooftop dorm not far from the hallway he stood within. It was up another staircase and would fit about fifteen girls in a tight fit. It was the closest and it had to be that room. Then again, Uno was in that room and Erik realized wherever that girl was there was bound to be some form of argument.
Most likely Marcella had a fright of her life.
Erik grinned and shook his head. That new ballerina was something other than normal. She not only threatened the managers and crew with his name but she knew how to manipulate conversations to her advantage. She was powerful, witty, and smart.
She was much like him.
Erik stalked down the dark narrow hall and headed towards the stage on his final sweep of the building before returning to his lair. He normally didn't sweep the halls but if there was to be an audition throughout tomorrow then he wanted his staff to be well rested and not active the night before. Especially when he found the crew preparing an attack upon the new ballerina; if Uno hadn't of been there to stop them then he would have had no choice but to make his presence known and startle the poor girl and his own stage crew.
But jobs had to be done someway or another.
The halls were empty, bare of any life, and when he stepped into the audience of the auditorium he found two members of the crew sitting on the side of the stage with a small lantern, the light dimmed down until you can only make out half the stage and nothing more. One man was passed out drunk—no doubt about it. He only thanked God that Uno decided to not come to the stage and expect to play the piano or sing; if the two drunks woke up from with their hangovers still in tact then they'd see her as an easy target.
A door closed off in the distant and Erik turned his head to see the said person stepping towards the center stage from the back.
Damn it, he cursed mentally.
He ducked into the shadows and watched her from the distance; he was ready to leap out and protect her if need be it. Her head was hanging and her arms were wrapped around her body. Erik narrowed his eyes and frowned. She wasn't in any type of gown to be seen walking around the building. She was in a night gown! Although the color may be black and she may have a chance at hiding in the shadows from the two drunks, she'd be putting herself in greater danger for showing up half open.
"Watashi ga attara hairitai," he heard her mutter. His brows furrowed, wondering what she was saying. It didn't sound English, French, or any other language he knew.
She stepped up to the edge of the stage and looked out into the darkness. Erik, however, stood not even ten feet away from her, shielded by his black cloak and full black mask. If she were to just narrow her eyes and peer closer she could make the outline of his body out. But instead, she sighed and stared down into the pit. Erik watched as she looked to be off in thought. She turned and spotted the drunken stage member sleeping off on the side of the stage with the dim light besides him.
Behind her there was another man stepping onto the stage; Erik only counted the seconds until Uno would sense his presence. But amazingly, she didn't realize until she backed away from the edge of the stage and into him. She craned her neck to see who it was then spun around when she found how drunk he appeared.
"Hey you're that girl who stopped us from having a bit of fun earlier," he slurred out. The ballet rat took a step backwards from him, nearing her dangerous steps towards the edge of the stage. "You caused my men a great deal." Erik noticed the other man had woken up from his slumber and was stepping up to the two; however, behind Uno.
"Don't even think about it," she growled, bringing a fist into the air to express the nature of her warnings.
"You took away our fun," the man who had just entered the gathering said. He had a grip on her shoulders now and held her firmly in place. Erik balled his fists on the sides of his body, ready to interfere within their actions if they actually take this too far.
"Don't come closer," she seethed, "or I'll have to hurt you."
"Such strong words coming from a rangy ballet rat," the man before her spat out.
"Don't forget, I'm a rat and rats bite hard." Erik had to actually stifle a smirk at her sharp reply.
Suddenly, before his very eyes she kicked out and delivered her foot squarely into the man's crotch. Erik's mouth gaped open at the hard kick that sent the crew member stumbling backwards a few feet, doubling over and holding himself against the pain. Uno managed to break free out of the grasp the second member of the stage crew held onto her with and she instantly sent a fist into his gut, causing him to stumble backwards.
Erik actually smirked and folded his arms over his chest. This rat proved to be able to bite rather hard, as it appeared she knew what she was doing. She leaped into the air and brought her foot out to the man's neck. Erik's mouth gaped open when he watched the man stumbled back a few feet until he collapsed off the edge of the stage. Uno cringed when the body crashed on top of all the music stands within the pit and she peered over to see the body in its deceased form.
Suddenly, as if she had sensed movement behind her, Uno spun around to see the man she had kicked regaining his composure.
"You—why did you do that?" He barked out.
Uno stalked towards him with a growl that Erik could hear off in the front row, where he stood watching the fight. "Don't ever assume I'm as weak as everyone else!" She snapped. She charged him and sent the two tumbling down. Erik stepped around the side of the stage until he got a clear view of what she was doing and paused when he found out.
She was straddling his chest!
"People like you don't deserve to remain breathing," Uno had snarled out before she began punching him in the face over and over again.
Erik watched as she delivered massive blows to his face, nose, cheeks, jaw bones, eye sockets, and even his temples. There wasn't one place she missed from the man's entire head! He watched as she struck him several times in the same place, each by a different fist. She switched over and over again, never stopping even to rest, and eventually began to draw out blood.
Finally, when she did stop, Erik knew the man couldn't have survived the impact. His nose was bent to the side at an angle that still wouldn't make sense if it was commonly fractured, he was bleeding from minor cuts along his temples, there was blood seeping out of his nostrils and lips, and his eyes were encased in a thick swollen discoloration.
It appeared Uno didn't stop herself until it was too late.
He stared at the body on the stage in shock, amazed that a simple ballerina had killed a man in less than five minutes—two men to be exact! And the fact that she actually killed him was another shock.
"Kuso!" He heard her seethe out. She leaped off the body and backed away to the side of the stage. "What did I do?" She murmured out, stunned by her own actions. "It's as if Zero took over me again."
Erik frowned. Zero? What on Earth is she talking about?
"Holy Hell," she breathed out, her lower lip trembling in what he noticed was fear. "I've been possessed by Zero."
Who is Zero? Erik fumed silently. And if she has been possessed, she would need an exorcist. Perhaps Zero is a demon that she had once read about. Erik glanced away in deep thought. Perhaps La Marcella is correct. Perhaps Uno is a witch.
"Not possible," she murmured, breaking him out of his concentration. Erik turned and watched as she wrapped her arms around her body and held herself from shaking. "It's not possible."
She took a few more steps back until she bumped into the wall. "No," she breathed out. Erik noticed she looked as if she were about to faint. Her eyes were glazed over, her lower lip was trembling, and her entire body shook violently, despite the grasp she had over herself.
"It can't be," she added in softly.
Erik swallowed hard, wondering what actions she planned to take now that she had killed two of the stage crew in little then under five minutes. She couldn't expect to leave them there and wait until morning; the managers would be ecstatic about the deaths of two Opera Populaire stage members and instantly they would put the blame on him!
"You're not real," her whispered voice broke Erik of worrying thoughts. "You can't be."
He frowned. Who's not real? Erik glanced at the two dead bodies before returning to see how frightened and alarmed she looked. Perhaps she really is bewitched.
"You're a mind-controlling system created by scientists," that murmured statement truly had Erik stumped. He cocked his head to the side, his brows furrowing. Did scientist experiment on her? He knew it was a common thing in England but in America he wasn't sure.
"Damate," she whispered before repeating it in a scream. "Damate!"
What on Earth is she saying? He fumed silently. What language is that?
She looked as if she were breaking down and fixing to cry. Her body apparently weakened out and she collapsed onto the floor, sitting on her knees as she continued to hold shaking self.
"Please," she whispered again, her voice crackling with what sounded to be a sob. "Please just go away."
Perhaps it is the same demon that had lurked in her mind several nights ago, upon her arrival.
"Oh my God—what have I done?" Erik sighed. He was growing tired of watching this bewitched woman speak to no one but herself and the silence around her. He was ready to make his presence known and frighten her into sanity and he took a step towards the stage but froze when she spoke again.
"I really am Duo's little girl," she whispered. Erik felt taken aback when he saw a smirk on her lips after she stated her words. "I play with fire and I get burned from it."
He stifled a smirk at that and crossed his arms over his chest once more. I could have warned you against that, he mused.
Uno sniffled and soon stood back up. Erik took a cautious step back, returning to the shades of the dark auditorium, and watched her every move. Surely she wouldn't just abandon the bodies and return to the dorms. She would have to alert Madam Giry for what happened. Surely the woman would have some ease for Uno's self defense, despite how stunning her moves were to even the phantom.
He watched as she nodded her head and turned away. His mouth dropped and his eyes enlarged when he watched as she casually strolled away from the stage as if nothing had happened. Her hands dropped to the sides and she exited the room. Erik remained standing in the front row, gawking at the ballet rat.
She had just killed two men in little less than five minutes, became frightened about the entire ordeal, then suddenly stood up as if nothing had happened and left the stage. She had treated the entirely thing casually! Erik choked on his next breath and stared down into the pit where the music stand had stabbed the corpse in the back as it fell. Blood was oozing out from the wound and causing a line to trail towards the drainage hole. He turned and stared at the bloodied face of the corpse on the stage, then back to the door where Uno had left.
She had defended herself as if it were a causality, became mildly insane when she learned she had killed two men, then returned to the character the entire Opera Populaire had learned her to be and walked away from the entire incident. Erik recalled hearing about cases when he was younger where a person would be living two lives at once and at any time could switch around and not know it; it was called Split Personality.
But she doesn't have Split Personality, he berated himself. She knew what she was doing but couldn't stop herself. She must truly be bewitched.
He leaped onto the stage and stepped up to the body for a closer inspection. Even though the two corpses were not created in his fashion he knew the managers would immediately link it to him.
Or…Erik frowned and turned to glanced down into the pit, noticing how the body had fallen. Slowly, pieces of the puzzle connected within his mind and he found he was smirking when the picture came clear into view. He glanced back down at the bloodied face and crossed his arms over his chest.
Or perhaps the managers will assume that the two men were bickering and when one realized that he had beaten his comrade to death, stumbled backwards and landed in his own fate.
And that was what he assumed Uno would have expected the managers to believe had happened. She had gotten away with murder by making everyone believe they had gotten themselves killed in a measly brawl. They wouldn't question for a second about how it happen once they noticed the music stand sticking in the man's back; they would just assume he fell to his death and not expect Uno Maxwell to have anything to do with it.
Erik smirked. What an amazingly talented girl.
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